Supplemental Pinyin Conventions

I. Syllables without initials

The conventions for representing syllables withou initial consonants are as follows.

1. In the first row, no special rules.

anjing	quiet		hen e	(very) hungry
Aozhou	Australia		Ouzhou	Europe

2. In the "i" row: change i to y

Example with initial consonant

Example without initial consonant

jia	family		ya	duck
jie	street		ye	also
qiao	bridge		yao	to want
xian	string		yan	salt
qiong	poor		yong	to use

 ** Exceptions: i goes to yi

iu goes to you

in goes to yin

ing goes to ying

 Thus:

Example with initial consonant

Example without initial consonant

bi	to compare		yi	one
diu	to lose		you	to have
lin	a surname		yin	sound
ting	to listen		ying	hard, stiff

3. In the "ü" row: prefix with y

Example with initial consonant

Example without initial consonant

qu	to go		yu	fish
xue	to study		yue	month
juan	to roll, curl		yuan	distant
jun	military		yun	clouds

4. In the "u" row: change u to w

Example with initial consonant

Example without initial consonant

zhua	to grasp		wa	tile
duo	much, many		wo	I, me
kuai	fast		wai	outer
chuang	bed		wang	a surname

 

**Exceptions: u goes to wu

ui goes to wei

uen goes to wen

Thus:

Example with initial consonant

Example without initial consonant

lu	road		wu	five
tui	leg		wei	"Hello" (on the phone)
zhun	accurate		wen	to ask

II. Exceptional chart spellings (applied in syllables with initial consonants)

1. * where you would expect uei instead write ui (without initial = wei)

* where you would expect iou instead write iu (without initial = you)

* where you would expect uen instead write un (without initial = wen)

2. The final uo reduced to o after the initials b, p, m, f:

thus: bo po mo fo (vs. duo zhuo zuo kuo guo)

III. Drop the umlaut except in syllables beginning with l and n.

lü : "green" .................... lu : "road"

nü : "female"................. nu :"diligent" (not actually a single syllable word)

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